Animal activists covered in blood sprawled across the Place Du Palais Royal in Paris today in a staged "open air slaughterhouse", attempting to raise awareness for the mass-slaughter of animals in the meat industry.

The Vegan group 269 life campaign organised the event in co-ordinance with world day for the abolition of meat, by wearing nude underwear, covering themselves in read paint and lying lifeless as corpses in the center of the busy parisian square.

Disturbing footage shows one participant - covered in red paint - suspended from his legs as two pretend-butchers stand next to him.

A statement on their website reads "Most people are well aware of what is being done to other animals, and yet remain apathetic in the face of the atrocities committed in their name, even after witnessing the utmost graphic evidence."